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Dominion Tiltscrew Gunship
The Dominion Tiltscrew Gunship is one of the most unusual looking aircraft in the Talon arsenal, and one of the most lethal. Designed by Forgemaster Gregor Anatol at the close of the 18th century, the Dominion Tiltscrew Gunship was remarkably advanced for its time. The Dominion's proposed propulsion system consisted of a pair of air screws, mostly identical to the ones used on the Virtue Attack Helicopter, at the ends of two stubby wings, which at first might seem reasonable enough. However, there was more to the Dominion's propulsion than just that. Anatol had designed an intricate and complex clockwork mechanism that would allow the twin air screws to swivel, such that they were aimed rearwards rather than downwards. In theory, such a system would allow the Dominion to loiter in one place while the air screws were pointed downwards, acting not unlike the air screws of the Virtue Attack Helicopter. However, when the screws were pointed rearwards, they would allow the Dominion to reach speeds that seemed unimaginably fast at the time. Naturally, this most unconventional system was regarded with automatic suspicion by the rest of the forgemasters, and it was not until Anatol demonstrated his system using a prototype that the sceptics were convinced. At the time, European rockets were crude, inefficient things, more useful for scaring the enemy than anything else. However, the Anglo-Mysorean War had just drawn to a close, and the Mysorean iron cased rockets that would inspire the development of the Congreve rocket, which would later be employed on the Jager Walker, would also form the basis for the Dominion's weaponry. The iron cased rockets that had proven so effective were improved upon by Anatol. Leveraging his experience in metallurgy as a Talon forgemaster, Anatol replaced the iron casing with a steel one. Though the steel used was obviously of a much lower quality than Talon Steel, which was too precious to waste on rocket casings, it meant that the rockets employed in the Dominion were superior to other rockets of the time. Even the Congreve rockets the Champion Walker used would incorporate this improvement when the Champion was introduced into the Talon arsenal decades later. The Dominion would be armed with rocket launcher racks, which would be kept topped off by a clockwork autoloader, allowing them to maintain a constant barrage of rockets. Following the debut of military aircraft in other factions during the First World War, a simple modification was made to all Dominions, introducing a simple gunsight that would allow the Dominion to target other aircraft and destroy them by sheer weight of fire. Unfortunately, Anatol's untimely death during a raid on a Cult fortress in Greece meant that he would never see the design to fruition. A new forge had been established in the Golan Heights in order to produce the new design just before Anatol was killed, and it was named the “Sacred Forges of the Brother Gregor” in his honour. Today, despite its age, the Dominion's intricate systems of clockwork and steam are no less effective, and Dominion Gunships continue to rain down death on the Talon's enemies.